Procycling brings you the colour, action and drama of the world's most spectacular sport in a glossy and dynamic magazine.
It's the authoritative, worldwide voice of international professional road racing, distributed in every country where there are English-speaking fans.
With exclusive features and spectacular photography, Procycling brings to life the complexities, rivalries and hardships of the European professional scene.

Cycling Plus is the manual for the modern road cyclist.
Whether you're cycling weekly, an occasional new rider or a Tour de France fan you’ll find everything you need.
Every issue is packed with expert reviews of the latest road bikes and gear, inspirational routes and rides, evocative features that take you inside every aspect of cycling and unmatched nutrition, fitness and training advice.

Mountain Biking UK celebrates everything that is great about mountain biking, enabling people of all abilities and ages to have a better time on their bike.
MBUK brings you all the latest news, coolest kit, plus exclusive info on the newest and best bikes that you can buy.

BikeRadar verdict

Specialized was the first major manufacturer to get the 120mm category 'right'. The all-new Stumpjumper FSR continues to showcase the company's competent, holistically packaged prowess.

Frame: Enduro inspired

This year, the Stumpjumper gets the short rocker link-driven FSR setup which made its debut on the 6in Enduro in 2007, and the frames have a very similar design. The new M5 chassis is a swoopy hydoformed structure, with a super-low braced top tube and curves at both ends of the big down tube for fork/shock clearance. Curved and tapered chainstays make their way to the classic 'Horst Link' pivots just ahead of the dropouts, while a hollow 'fortune cookie' brace ties the rectangular to round seatstays together.

Tyre clearance is reasonable all round. Specialized has gone to town on the aesthetics. Cranks, rims, brake levers, grip collars and even cable mount bolts are colour-matched for a slick 'custom' look and the whole bike is impressively light.

Ride: a safe bet

Specialized FSRs are always impeccably balanced. The tall front end and overall feel is confident and completely planted as soon as you sit on. The handling is equally obedient; it's weighted just right for breaking out the back end before the front if you push it too far. Natural steadiness and flex between the two frame halves make it a little slow to re-grab control and make that a default cornering setting, though.

In fact, while it always copes fine if you do get into trouble, it never actively encouraged any of our testers to push their limits, however safe they felt on it. A low bottom bracket boosts stability at speed but really interrupts pedalling over rough/rocky sections.

The low overall weight and lightweight Captain tyres mean that it picks up speed easily and efficiently, and the rear end follows the ground smoothly to suck up traction. There's a definite feel of suspension squat and power absorption if you really stamp on it, though, and flicking the shock into Pro Pedal mode is essential for a sense of sprinting 'snap' or climbing kick. We had to tighten the top shock mount bolt several times during testing, too.

Equipment: impressive chainset and brakes

The full Fox suspension is super-controlled, but it's the 'custom' components that impress. That anonymous chainset is actually last year's XT, and while the Juicy Seven Ultimate brakes lack carbon levers of true Ultimates, you still get the magnesium bodyweight saving.

Actual Specialized kit is mostly good, although wider bars would add more trail authority. While the Captain tyres are fast and light, there's not much leaning edge on them - we blew both skimpy inner tubes on the first ride, and punctured regularly with normal ones unless we ran higher than usual pressures.

Summary

It looks fantastic down to the tiniest detail. It packs great components on a well balanced frame, and an exceptionally light complete bike. Many people will - and should be - happy with their Stumpy.

However, we felt it 'coped', rather than 'encouraged', when we raised the tempo on the crazier technical sections that its competitors handled with aplomb .

Get inspired by our deals

Use our deal finder to find the best deals on bikes, cycling gear and accessories. We search dozens of online bike shops so you don't have to.

Related Links

Guy started filling his brain with cycle stats and steaming up bike shop windows back in 1980. He worked the other side of those windows from '89 while getting a degree in “describing broken things covered in mud" (archaeology). Dug historical holes in the ground through the early '90s, then became a pro bike tester in '97. Guy has ridden thousands of bikes and even more components the world over since then and can remember them all in vivid, haunting detail. Can't remember where the car keys are, though.

Age: 45

Height: 180cm / 5' 11"

Weight: 68kg / 150lb

Waist: 76cm / 30in

Chest: 91cm / 36in

Discipline: Strict sadomasochist

Preferred Terrain: Technical off-piste singletrack and twisted back roads. Up, down, along — so long as it's faster than the last time he did it he's happy.

Current Bikes: An ever changing herd of test machines from Tri bikes to fat bikes and everything in between.